change of this kind. >> separate subject. >> go ahead. >> -- today spoke to a proposal to strengthen coordination -- military coordination with russia in targeting al nusra in syria. i'm just wondering, you've been a skeptic in the past about cooperating with russia militarily in syria given that their motives are different than those of the united states. has something changed? would you support -- >> wlee >> we do have a professional relationship with the russian military to make sure there are no incidents and no safety issues as we both operate in the neighboring areas of syria. but i've said before, the russians got off on the wrong foot in syria. they said they were coming in to fight isil and that they would assist the political transition in syria towards a post-assad government that could run the country and put that terribly

broken country back together and give the people the future they deserve. they haven't done either of those things. so i think -- i'm still hopeful that they will do both of those things, and i think that's what secretary kerry's talks -- which are very frequent -- with the russians are all about. but meanwhile, we have a channel which is focused on safety issues and we maintain that. that's a very professional working channel between us. >> i can follow up on that and ask you something else. to follow on phil's question, you're well known to be skeptical of the russians and some of the things that their military has done. so really straight-up -- are you willing -- are you in favor now of an expanded effort for military cooperation with the russians inside syria? because most people in this town think you are not.

>> if the russians would do the right thing in syria -- that's an important condition -- as in all cases with russia, we're willing to work with them. that's what we've been urging them to do since they came in. that's the objective that secretary kerry's talks are aimed at. and if we can get them to that point, that's a good thing. >> but may i follow up on two small items. are you willing to include an effort for the u.s. to begin air strikes against al nusra? and may i also ask you about raqqa. as the world has watched what's happened in istanbul, how urgent now are you, beyond the usual discussion of accelerants, to see the syrian air coalition and the other fighters get to raqqa because -- >> they're very, very eager to get to raqqa. this is the same group that we've been working successful with as they have been successful, we've been enabling and supporting them in to

envelope and take -- which they will -- from isil the city of manbidge which like raqqa is not as well known but it is a city from which external plotting has been conducted by isil in to europe, and in to the united states, as well -- and was part of the transit hub from the turkish border down to isil in syria. that was an important objective. those same forces and that same approach -- or really the same approach and some larger forces actually are the ones that we plan -- and i just was discussing this with the generals the other day -- those are the forces that we are going to position to again envelope and collapse isil's control of raqqa. the reason i want to do that, barbara, as soon as possible is that raqqa is the

self-proclaimed capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate of isil, and it's important to destroy isil in iraq and syria because that's absolutely necessary. it is not sufficient to avoid all kinds of radicalization and so forth, but it is necessary in order to eliminate the idea that there can be a state based upon that ideology. that's why we are so intent in our military campaign against isil on iraq and syria. we would like to get raqqa as soon as we possibly can. like everything else. >> mr. secretary, couple of questions about what this change will mean for the transgender service members. first can you verify that the military health care coverage will cover all aspects of

transition related care, including general reassignment surgery. second, will the pentagon add gender identity or transgender status to the military equal opportunity policy in the event that a transgender service member feels like they are experiencing discrimination. >> the answer is the first one is the medical standards don't change. the transgender individual, like all other service members, will get all medical care their doctors deem necessary. they'll have to do that with their -- subject to -- if it is non-urgent medical care, subject to their commanders. because if they need to be deployed, they need to be deployed and it's normal that if you have say a procedure which is not urgent that you have to defer that if you're being deployed. we're not going to have any different medical policy for transgender service members than others. our doctors will treat them, give them medically necessary

treatment according to the protocols that are determined by the medical profession. >> will you add transgender status to the meo? >> i don't know the specific answer to that. i certainly assume the answer is yes. peter is telling me yes, that certainly stands to reason, that we would. that makes sense. paul. >> i wants to follow up on that question. so there's been some debate on whether the military would only cover hormone therapy versus covering full reassignment surgery. so will reassignment surgery be covered? >> this is for currently serving members. again, that's going to be a matter that the doctors will determine in accordance with what is medically necessary. that's a decision that they make with their physician and the timing of any treatment of any kind, like any other non-urgent

medical care, will be something that their commanders will have a voice in for the very simple reason that we, in this matter, as in all matters, readiness and deployability are critical. tom? >> mr. secretary, if i could follow up very quickly. you said current service members. so incoming service members who are transitioning would not be eligible for that transitional surgery? >> it depends, mick. if someone who is transgender and comes out will need to and be required to have undergone transition and be stable in that state for 18 months before they can enter the military. >> but the u.s. military will not provide that surgery. is that what you're saying? >> they won't be in the u.s. military at that time because they won't have accessed until

they have undergone transition. tom? >> two questions for you, if i could. how many transgender troops have been dismissed under the old policy? and, also, i'm wondering why chairman dunford isn't here to discuss this policy since it affects the uniform military -- >> i'll take the second part first. this is my decision. however, i have -- we have arrived at it together, the senior leadership of the department. they support this timetable and this implementation plan, as i indicated, i actually made some adjustments in it specifically to take into account some of the desire by some of the chiefs to have a little more time on the front end, particularly for commanders in training guidance. i agreed to that because i thought that was reasonable. i have a general principle around here which is very important, which is that it's important that the people who have to implement decisions be part of the decision making.

the service of the armed services are the ones that are going to have to implement that. so it is very important that they've been part of this study. but now they're a critical part of implementation because they and i all agree, as i said before, that simply declaring the military open to transgender individuals does not constitute effective implementation. we have work to do and we'll do it and we'll do it together. >> mr. secretary, in light of the events this morning at andrews air force base, are you getting a little fed up about all these false alarms for an active shooter? and why the communications problems this morning? >> i wouldn't say fed up. because i think we have to take these things seriously when they occur. i'm sure that if a mistake was made mere or if somebody inadvertently did, they didn't do it on purpose. it also shows a high degree of readiness and rapidity of response. it does appear, based on information i have at this

moment, that this was mistaken and that this was a drill that was going on that was mistaken for a real event. and a response was made. and that is something. because it has happened before. that i think we need to pay attention to how to minimize the chances of false alarms like that. at the same time, i think it's important to have a reasonable level of awareness, of the possibility of this kind of event and what to do. and i thought the response was strong and solid. so that's the good news. the bad news is it appears to have been a mistake and we'd like to reduce the number of mistakes made in this way. no question about it. >> mr. secretary, i'm still confused by your answer to mick's question. someone who is already in the military, if he is -- he or she is deemed medically -- if sex

change surgery is deemed medically necessary, the military would pay for it. >> that's correct. >> what happens now -- and then you explained the 18-month stable before you come in. what happens to a service man -- >> let me check our wire again. >> we're going to pull away from the pentagon. i'm brooke baldwin live in istanbul, turkey, just before 9:00 p.m. you have been listening to historic news by defense secretary ash carter who announced this massive moment in the united states, the pentagon lifting the ban on transgender troops from serving openly in the u.s. military effective immediately. secretary carter laid out a list of reasons, and among them -- qualified and talented americans willing to serve their country should not have to serve in fear. he says one general noted that as an army they are sworn to protect and die for the principle that all people are equal. and so in turn, those in uniform

should be willing to live with that very principle. secretary carter says he is proud of the year-long review of this issue, that he is proud of all servicemen and women, he announced an implementation plan in stages over the course of the next 12 months including immediate guidance and training for current service members. this move today removes one of the final barriers to military service for any individual, and it comes five years after the administration ended don't ask, don't tell, which allowed gays, lesbians and bisexuals to serve openly. again, just want to underscore this here. this historic moment. the pentagon lifting the ban on transgender troops serving openly. let me bring in cnn military analyst, lieutenant colonel lick francona. what are your initial thoughts on secretary carter's decision? >> well, we're talking about a very small group of people serving in the military. but the secretary has opened up

a big can of worms here in the implementation of this. i think that's evident from the number of questions he was getting on how we're going to do this. i think sweeking inspeaking as officer, i think most service people have no problem serving with those who are qualified as long as standards don't change. that's always been the big issue. but the implementation of this is going to take a long time to smooth out. i think one of the questions is very key here. i think the secretary's trying to make some distinctions that don't exist. he said if you come in to the military you can't come in until you have had your gender stable for 18 months. there's no way to tell that. you can walk into a recruiting office and be in the military in very short order. then once in say, oh, by the way, i'm transgender and you're already in. these are the kinds of things that have to be worked out. that's an education process. but as far as men and women serving in the military, just like with the lifting of the ban

on gays and lesbians, bisexuals, this, too, shall pass. it will be assimilated and the force will accommodate. >> yeah. it sounded to me as though he was saying putting a finite point on the transition 18 months after the stability is established, anyone should and will be able to serve. colonel francona, thank you so much for that. let's move on and talk about the fact that we are at the ataturk airport in turkey that's become the scene of one of the worst terror attacks in recent memory. we are now being told a series of coordinated bombings was likely led by isis. an attack that was "extremely well planned," according to isis leaders. this comes to us at cnn from a senior turkish government source. we also have new video here that adds yet another layer of horror to this attack that killed 43 people. before we play it for you, i

just have to warn you, it is graphic to watch. but in the video you can see a man reportedly it is an undercover officer as he apparently asks one of these suicide bombers to show his i.d. the man then in the video turns and shoots the officer. these suicide bombers, we're told, traveled to turkey from raqqa in syria. raqqa, is the unofficial capital of isis, the stronghold. came in to turkey here, in to istanbul about a month ago, bringing along with him the suicide vest and bombs used in the attack. it is in istanbul that they rented an apartment, one of them leaving behind his passport, that then led investigators to another piece of this puzzle here where these attackers are from. from everything we have here today we've gotten a lot of developments. my colleague, ivan watson, cnn's senior international correspondent with me here inside the airport. begin with what we know. we don't have i.d.s specifically on these bombers but we know what russia, kurdistan, uzbekistan? >> that's correct.

turkish government officials telling us that the three bombers are a citizen of russia, a citizen of kyrgyzstan, and uzbekistan. we've reached out to the kyrgyz government and they're pushing back on that. but the turkish government saying the explosive vests were bout in across the syrian border almost a month ago. apartment where these men were believed to have been living where a russian passport was found is in a neighborhood that's not that far from where we are right now, brooke. >> really. >> maybe a couple miles' drive from here as the crow flies. just indicates how easily people can live below the radar here in turkey. now important to note, the turks have been carrying out raids. both here in istanbul at a number of different locations, detaining about 13 people, and in the turkish port city of ismi

ruch ismir, detaining at least nine people there. that shows they're looking across the country as a possible network that could have supported these suicide bombers. >> you are an american but you lived in istanbul for 12 years. you have flown, i can only imagine, innd a o and out of th airport so many times. we talked about how isis has targeted foreign tourists but this time feels different. why? >> because. in the past isis is believed to have attacked foreign tourists and horrific casualties, kurds and leftists. the turkish government is fighting a war against militants from the ethnic kurdish population. so in turk tiish kind of mental, a lot of turks might have looked at this as attacks on others, not against us. that's over. by attacking this airport, the vast majority of the wounded, the casualties, are turks. ethnic turks. they're going to see this very much as an attack on themselves

and that suggests, if in fact that isis carried out this attack, that they've declared war on the rest of turkey, on the turkish state, even though they have been attributed to bombings that have killed more than 100 people since last year. >> we'll talk about the significance of the istanbul target, airport. ivan, thank you so much. ivan watson here in front of the airport. the number of people killed at ataturk airport, 11th busiest airport in the world, death toll has risen to 43. 43 people killed as they arrived here to set out on new at ventures or perhaps returning home. some just waiting in the airport for loved ones, and others airport staff simply at work doing their jobs. today there are several funerals taking place for those innocent souls who were slaughtered in this airport. for that let's go to cnn's matt rivers who attended one of those funerals. matt, tell me about the victim.

>> brooke, there is no such thing as a funeral that isn't sad but the funeral that we attended today this morning was incredibly poignant and incredibly sad because of who was being mourned there. there were four people that were being mourned. three of them were sisters. a 24-year-old, a 16-year-old, and a 14-year-old. the fourth person that was being mourned was an 8-year-old who was the niece of all three of those sisters. that was one big family traveling from saudi arabia here to turkey to visit family. there was eight of them in total. they had exilted tted the airpo waiting for a cab outside one of the terminals. all of a sudden there was an explosion. we spoke to the father and grandfather of some of the people there. he said he heard the explosion, ran over but it was too late for those four people. so we went to that funeral today along with dozens of other people from this area. we had a chance to speak very

briefly with the father of that 8-year-old girl. he has in saudi arabia when he got the call that his 8-year-old girl had been killed in this attack. we spoke to him right before the funeral began. here's a little bit of what he had to say. >> before she go, she hug me. she told me, father, come with us. i tell her -- i tell her that i will come. >> if you wanted people to know something about your daughter, what would you want people to know about her? >> she was a very lovely. >> she's very lovely. >> very lovely. >> the entire time we were talking, he had his hand on her casket. that was right in exto hi -- ne him. he was standing vigil at his

daughter's casket, moving his hand back and forth very gently. watching it in the moment, it reminds you of that kind of paternal instinct of just taking your hand and running it -- petting your daughter's head. just running it down her hair. it was incredibly poignant. i don't even know if he knew he was doing it. but you could feel his pain. you could feel his sadness. and everyone around there was affected. that is what you're seeing across this city after this attack. funeral after funeral after funeral with families going through that exact same kind of pain that we saw at that funeral this morning, brooke. >> fatherly instinct. child gone way too soon. matt rivers, thank you for sharing that story. it is important to honor the lives lost here at the airport. reminder, too, 94 people are still being treated in the hospital. all these stories here in istanbul coming up next here on cnn. a couple on their honeymoon trapped inside of this airport

during the attack. they lived to tell their emotional story about what they saw. you will hear from them. also ahead -- graphic new video showing one of the attackers shooting someone, reportedly a security officer checking his i.d. where that moment fit into the timeline. and break region tonight here from istanbul, convoys of isis vehicles hit by coalition air strikes. nearly 200 were destroyed. see where they were going. you're watching cnn, special live coverage. i'm brooke baldwin. what are you doing? getting faster. huh? detecting threats faster, responding faster, recovering faster. when your security's built in not just bolted on, and you protect the data and not just the perimeter, you get faster. wow, speed kills. systems open to all, but closed to intruders. trusted by 8 of 10 of the world's largest banks.

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we're back here live tonight in istanbul, turkey. i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for being with me. just about 9:30 here in the evening. we are learning now more about how technical, how calculating these three suicide bombers were. just a warning, we're going to show you some video. it is disturbing to watch but it papts a picture of how calculating and horrendous these men were. according to the turkish broadcasting service, the footage from the airport shows one of these bombers shooting an undercover police officer after the officer stopped him to see

i.d. it appears the gunman shoots the officer a second time before running away as the officer is on the ground in pain. david katz, ceo of global security group and a former senior special agent to the dea and federal certified firearms and tactical instructor. first on this video, what strikes you the most seeing who appears to be the attacker just shooting this officer? >> he's done it before. there's absolutely no hesitation. these are killers. they're not -- i've heard reports they were highly trained like special forces guys. that's not necessary. if you have a person who's committed to the ideology, willing to die and thehas no hesitation in killing other human beings, that's what you get and this is exactly what we see on this tape. >> i was talking to a security specialist earlier today, talking about this sort of new layer of information with regards to what you call

diversion tactics. right? you have these three bombers. one goes in first, sets a bomb off. second able to continue past that person because the security is down and the third is everyone in that fog and smoke and frightening scene, your instinct is to run outside and that's where that third bomber is waiting for them where he detonates his suicide vest. what's that say to you about the level of sophistication and technicality of this attack? >> well, it's clearly a coordinated planned effort. this is not anything new. multiple devices, multiple attackers are common all over the world. what they do is, as you mentioned, they'll detonate a device, start firing, get people basically herded in a general direction where another bomber or assailant is waiting. another tactic is detonate a device, wait for first responders to come on scene, then detonate killing medical personnel and first responders.

they have tried to maximize the number of casualties. that's what we see here. >> maximizing casualties. number two, we also learned from the senior turkish official telling cnn that the actual explosive devices, these vests, were made outside of turkey. right? then they were brought in to be used by these three men two nights ago. talk to me about how oftentimes you have a bomb maker, then those who carry out the attacks. >> the bombmaker is the prize asset of many of these organizations. it's not easy to successful make than kind of explosive vest. the actual manufacturing process often results in fatalities, not often enough, but often results in the bomb makers being killed. when you have someone who's technically proficient, can make bombs for a number of people, then disperse those individuals all over the world like we have here, that's a significant

change. they feel, clearly, that they can easily cross the border into turkey with explosives, with weapons. there's no hindrance. god knows -- who knows where else they are. are they in europe? are they among the refugee flood? have they been able to get these or additional suicide bombers in other countries right now today waiting for the instructions to carry out an attack elsewhere. >> again, learning these vests, explosive devices, came outside of turkey, and also learning these attackers lived here in a suburb not far from where i am standing for this past month. we have more on the investigation and what we know coming up. david katz, thank you so much for that insight into what's happened. next we have new details about these attackers involved in the terror attack here at the airport. where they were from and we were talking about this apartment where they hold themselves up the last month. a passport was left behind. was it on purpose? was it a mistake? we'll talk about that significance and where this plan was originally hatched.

also ahead, major air strikes against massive convoys of isis fighters trying to flee the city of fallujah. we'll talk with someone who is on the ground in iraq and witnessed what happened firsthand. keep it right here, this is cnn's special live coverage. but the omega-3s in fish oil differ from megared krill oil. unlike fish oil, megared is easily absorbed by your body. megared. the difference is easy to absorb.

here we go, getting some new information as far as where these suicide bombers are from, those who murdered 43 people two nights ago here at the airport. we know that they are from russia and other former soviet

republics, a senior government source telling cnn today the three attackers were from russia -- kyrgyzstan and dagestan. the bomber from dagestan left his passport in the apartment. let's cover the russian angle. can you put in perspective what you make of the fact of where these three were from and also maybe russia's relations with turkey? matthew chance. >> reporter: yeah. so far i think we have to say the kremlin and the russian foreign ministry who we've been speaking to aren't confirming there was any russian national involved in this. that's something that's come from the turks only. not something that's been confirmed by any of those three countries, kyrgyzstan, uzbekistan and russia. it does say a lot about the problem the former soviet union has. the russians by their own

estimate say there are some 2,500 russian nationals who have left the country and joined the fight of isis. there is a big problem in this region of militants, young men going off and joining isis and fighting in syria and iraq. that's one issue. the other issue is the allegation which has been voiced again by the russian foreign ministry that the turks have been harboring, if not actually encouraging islamic militants over the years, similarly isis militants, but also militants that predate that as well. a statement issued by the russian foreign ministry spokesperson a couple of hours ago saying that one of these individuals accused of orchestrating the attacks is well known, in her words, to the turkish authorities. you get the sense when you speak to russian officials off the

record, suggestion they're trying to put across is that in the past turkey has played safe haven to these militants, now it's being bitten on the nose as a result of that. >> i think it is an important distinction. ivan watson made the same point, it is turkey saying where these three were from. in moscow as far as the investigation goes, we know investigators there are scouring istanbul and really beyond today for any clues these suicide bombers may have left behind. a senior turkish official tells cnn authorities detained 22 people with possibly links to the attack. we know that they went to some 16 different addresses in the istanbul area detaining some 13 people, nine others in a western coastal area here of turkey. three of those detained, we're told today, are foreign nationals. i have "time" magazine's middle east bureau chief with me. jared, thank you for joining me. you wrote about -- you called it

eerie similarities. right? immediately when something horrendous like this happens we think back to the last one and the time before that. we go to brussels, we go to paris. what about those? how do you tie some of those together? >> this was a complex attack where we've had multiple attackers using both assault weapons and suicide vests. in that sense there is an eerily similarity to the paris attacks and the brussels airport. then apart from that, it's the same game plan where you have multiple gunmen attacking a civilian target. perhaps not as soft a target as a concert hall but certainly indiskrim krcriminately attacki civilians regardless of their nationality or who they are. >> talk to me about why you think istanbul or why the airport. >> turkey right now is reaping some of the chaos from syria.

>> we are next door to syria. >> this is one of the largest countries neighboring syria. in a sense this is what somebody said to me yesterday, this is the tyranny geography. turkey has this vast kind of border with syria and there is an existing network of isis people. it is now painfully clear they're in turkey. isis has been using turkey over the last several years to transit foreign fighters to battlefields in syria and iraq for smuggling. we know that isis fighters use turkish cell phones. >> passports when their bodies are found in battlefields, turkish sim cards. but beyond that i guess, we've been asking then why is it when you put all the other islamic state attacks, they say yes, we did it. they don't do that in turkey. why? >> that's a tough question to answer. at the moment there is no satisfying answer. for now the only good answer is, well, that's how whoever is in charge of isis in turkey has

decided to do it. conventional wisdom well is if they want it both ways with the turkish authorities, they want to carry out attacks here at the same time and at the same time not alienate the authorities too much so they can still operate here somehow. at the same time saying that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense when they attack the main airport in istanbul which is a city far from syria and wreaking all kinds of carnage here. >> last night to go from seeing shattered glass and a lot of blood to just 24 hours later and they have fixed the glass, the blood is gone. this is turkey, istanbul, saying to the world, we're moving forward. thank you so much. coming up next here on cnn, in iraq u.s.-led air strikes hit isis convoys near fallujah killing hundreds of militants. we'll talk to someone from an aid organization who was close by and actually saw the strike with his own eyes. do not miss this. back after this. e even gives me.

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welcome back. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin live at the ataturk airport in istanbul where we now have an update on the death toll. it is up by one now standing at 44 people. getting new information from a senior turkish official here that these three bombers were directed by isis leaders. just in to cnn also, iraqi military saying it destroyed more than 700 isis vehicles and killed hundreds of fighters in air strikes over the past couple of days. keep in mind that's in addition to more than 170 vehicles destroyed by coalition air strikes. they were carrying as many as

250 isis militants. for that let's go to cnn's senior international correspondent, ben wedeman. ben, this all comes just after what? just days after -- actually, we're going to go to jeremy courtney. we going to jeremy courtney right now? jeremy courtney is with a humanitarian group. we'll get you to ben in a second. we have jeremy here on skype. he's with a humanitarian group right there near fallujah as missiles were flying over their heads. barely missed those air strikes aimed at isis. take a look. that is video from the group preemptive love coalition. as the air strikes were happening, they got caught in

the middle of this fighting between these coalition forces and isis. mentioned jeremy courtney, he is the ceo of this humanitarian group. he joins me from iraq tonight. jeremy, my goodness. i am so glad you and your team is okay. can you talk to me about exactly what happened or what you saw? >> yeah, thanks, brooke. so our team was taking 100,000 pounds of food out to some of the 86,000 people from fallujah who have been stranded out in these desert camps. on the way out to take our food to them, two of our huge trucks broke down. we were stranded in the desert overnight. our time was. over the middle of the night an isis convoy rolled up on our team. our team was laying low, flat in the dirt, undressed in their underwear hoping to blend in and not be spotted by isis. close enough to hear these isis guys talking on their phones. thankfully isis ended up moving

on. air strikes started pursuing them, blowing them up. many eventually the footage that you've seen. but half of our team was in a different location and those air strikes ended up hitting our team, hitting the car, causing damage to the car and laying some of our guys flat on to the ground. everyone survived but it was a very harrowing nightmarish night. >> take me back to part of your team. that is unthinkable. on the ground. in their underwear trying to blend in with the soil. they're hearing these isis militants before they move on. how long were they laying there? >> hours. throughout the night they were hiding out because we knew that there was this isis convoy in the region and eventually when the isis cars started coming down the road at our position where these huge trucks were, they stopped at our huge two semi-trucks, got out and formed a bit of a meeting point. our team overheard them talking on the phone and said we're here

at the trucks. if you see the trucks, that's where we are. they may not have known they had stumbled across 100,000 pounds of food meant for fallujah survivors. or they may just have had bigger concerns on their minds running away from these air strikes that were in hot pursuit. >> jeremy, tell me why you and your team are there. you're risking your lives to help these people. what are you doing? >> well, brooke, when i was with you a couple of years ago after this isis crisis broke out the first time, we talked about this whole concept of going to the hard places, going to the places that no one else will gr, to love the people that no one else will love. we talked about even loving our enemies. that's really what's drin ven u here. it's what keeps us here. not to say everyone here is our enemy. these 86,000 people, men, women and children starving in the desert, they're not our enemies.

we're out here trying to get them the food, water and shelter that they desperately need. the same things you and i would want if we were driven from our homes and forced to live in these nightmarish situations. >> it is extraordinary and an extraordinarily close call for your team. jeremy courtney, thank you so much from a location there in iraq tonight. i appreciate you and your time. let's go back to ben wedeman. i understand, ben, we have you now. talk for me as far as what we know about the strike. >> reporter: well, there are two strikes on two separate convoys between tuesday and wednesday, brooke. we just got a statement from the iraqi government. the numbers are quite fantastic. they say that the iraqi armed forces were able to destroy 507 isis vehicles in these two strikes, killing tens of isis fighters. they go on to say that coalition

aircraft destroyed 177 isis vehicles killing 349 militants. now it's impossible to verify these numbers, but clearly there was a large number of isis vehicles with militants trying to leave the vicinity of fallujah. we understand having covered that battle for the five weeks that it went on, that in the final stages, the leadership of isis fled the city and essentially abandoned the rank and file to the battle. and therefore, there was a lot of unhappy in es, a lot of -- unhappiness against them. it is possibly the leadership -- and possibly these convoys as well -- were heading west towards syria, or perhaps to raqqa, to get as far away as possible, because it was clear, even when we were in fallujah, that it was only a matter of time before the city would come

completely under the control of the government. what we also saw was the government forces don't have a lot of mercy for isis. brooke? >> wen mentioned >> ben mentioned raqqa, the unofficial capital of isis. bringing it back here to istanbul, how is this all interconnected, where they were apparently from. ben wedeman, thank you for that. at least two strikes here. but back here in turkey we are telling the stories of those who managed to survive in this massive attack at the ataturk airport. a couple on their honeymoon trapped inside the airport in the midst of the attack and lived to tell their emotional story. we will hear exactly what they saw, what happened to them coming up next. you both have a

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moment. first, here's our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta with this week's "turning points." >> i had doubts in myself to join "dancing with the stars." i just felt likefy went ahead and just failed in the first week, that means people would view deaf people as people that can't dance. >> but he didn't fail. he won. >> i'm a model, an actor and an activist. i was raised in a family that was completely deaf. two brothers. parents. grandparents. great grandparents. it is genetic so i really consider myself very fortunate. my whole family knows sign language. i went to the only university in the whole world for the deaf. my goal was to become a math teacher. >> "switched and birth" and "america's next top model" both found me.

>> being on a reality show wasn't easy. >> i had to live with the models. i couldn't really communicate with anybody. just remained optimistic. i was like i'm going to win this show. >> and he did. demarco's next goal, to help other deaf people gain access to american sign language. >> there are 70 million deaf people in this world and only 2% of them have access to sign language. to deaf kids, they should always find the ability in a disability. if you do, then you'll do great things in life. we continue on here. top of the hour, i'm brooke baldwin. it is just past 10:00 here this evening in istanbul, turkey. we are live outside the ataturk airport that still bears the scars of a coordinated series of horrific and deadline bombings, likely directed by isis leaders as we are now learning from a

turkish source. the number of those killed has just risen again to 44 victims. this was we are seeing chilling new video of what happened before those bombers detonated their suicide vests. to warn you as we play it for you, it is extremely graphic to watch. but it tells the story of a piece of what happened two nights ago. you can see a man, reportedly an undercover officer. he apparently asks one of the suicide bombers to show him his i.d. then the man turns and shoots this officer. we are told from a senior turkish government source that these three attackers traveled here to turkey from raqqa in syria, the de facto capital of isis, about a month ago. bringing along with them the suicide vests and the bombs used in this attack. again the vests, explosive devices coming from outside of turkey. and it is here in istanbul where these three would-be attackers rented an apartment. one of them leaving his passport behind. and that led investigators to another piece of the puzzle, the

attacker's nationalities. for more on what we are learning today about these bombers and where they were hold up here in istanbul, ivan watson has lived in istanbul for 12 years so you share also a unique perspective on all of this. but first on these three -- so for the last month, they were living not too far from this airport. >> that's right. in a neighborhood, a working class neighborhood as the crow flies just a few miles from where we are. we are getting more information about the area where they lived. we had a reporter investigating around that place. she saw the apartment that the police went in to. interviewed the real estate agency that rented the apartment out. they've confirmed that they knew the identities of the three men and that they've since been questioned by police about this. neighbors around there, a woman who said that she smelled chemical smells from that area a couple of days ago and neighbors were asking whether it was a gas leak. that's a fear here.

sometimes gas leaks blow up. separate from that, a 75-year-old man who has a garage around there said he saw a man smoking by the window of that apartment and often the curtains were closed to that apartment. so some more snippets of information from the apartment where a turkish government officials says the three suspected bombers were living before the terrible attack here. >> you may not be able to answer this, but did anyone call authorities, a. and b, what about anyone else potential co-conspirators who would also be in that apartment area? do we know? >> we certainly know that the turkish police have been carrying out raids here today not only in istanbul detaining about 13 people but also in another port city called ismir. they are fanning out, looking for any possible people. you have got to assume if these people smuggled their way across syria, across the long border there a month ago, they must have had accomplices here to help them with money, with financing to rent a place.

and to carry out the attack. judging by that video we saw, they knew the layout of this airport. >> highly technical. >> so well. they knew exactly where they were going. you saw just is the none shshno. >> new glass panels within just the last day. can you talk to me about the turkish way of life and how they have responded to this attack? >> clearly the turks are trying to show two messages. one, that this major gateway to the commercial capital of the city will not be shut down by a triple suicide bombing. so within hours of the attacks the airport was up and running again. that's a message to isis itself who have lived as neighbors of

turkey, along that border of syria, areas that they control. previously not seemed to have directly attacked the turkish government and the people of turkey, though they have carried out numerous bombings here targeting foreign tourists, targeting ethnic kurds and leftists. now they've declared war on the broader turkish state and the turkish people as a whole. it is a major psychological turning point for turkey. >> ivan watson, thank you very much for that. fascinating news. we are also now learning that one of the suicide bombers from russia left a passport behind in the part of istanbul ivan was just talking about not far from here. he came from the black sea area of dagestan. we knew the two others came from kyrgyzstan and uzbekistan. a senior turkish government source telling cnn specifically where they believe those three bombers are from. the one attacker from russia apparently left his passport behind in his apartment that

these three men apparently rented here in istanbul. kyrgyzstan's foreign ministry says it is not "confirmed" that one of the attackers was from that country. russian foreign ministry spokeswoman says, "the person named by turkish sources as an organizer of the act is known by the turkish side very well. as we understand, they can share with the media all the details about him." let me bring in senior international diplomatic editor nic robertson in brussels with more on the angle of this attacker from dagestan in russia. i hear dagestan and i immediately think of the boston bombers. >> yeah. tamerl tamerl tamerl tamerlan, the elder of the two bombers, had gone there.

dagestan is in the neighboring chechnya. there's been a growing islamic revolt against the russian government there. just last year they pledged allegiance to isis. also the uzbeks around the same time a couple of months later pledged allegiance to isis. kyrgyzstan now just a couple of months ago authorities there cracked down and arrested a man who was claiming to sort of support isis and calling for people from kyrgyzstan to support isis and go and fight in syria. but to the point about dagestan, this is a place that the russian government regularly runs in to gun battles, attacks on checkpoints by small islamic groups who are hiding out in the forests and the woods around there. they've been chased out of the towns. but the russian authorities face a growing problem with them there. they've been recruiting heavily from there to send people to

syria and iraq. and indeed there's been a leader of a whole battalion of so-called sort of chechen fighters, fighters from this w caucasus region of russia and syria. but they have a real pull because of this leader. they have a real pull because this is the place where they pledged allegiance to isis and they have a real pull because this for them is a growing campaign. this is radical islamist terrorism. >> i have jill dougherty standing by, researcher at the international center for defense and security. used to serve as cnn's moscow bureau chief. hugh naler, "washington post" correspondent based in lebanon in beirut.

first, jill, to you. all things russia is truly your wheelhorse. when you hear russia, uzbekistan, kyrgyzstan. significance? >> significance, obviously that in central asia which used to be part of the soviet union, as nic mentioned, you have a lot of groups, some that started way back in the '90s after the soviet union broke up. most of them in the beginning, terrorist organizations where kyrgyzstan, the individual governments there, uzbekistan, kyrgyzstan, and of course russia itself with dagestan and chechnya. then they kind of morphed. right now some of them have split off and they're looking for the big guy on the clock, which is isis. so that is why some of them ally themselves. they actually according to the fsb, which is a former kgb -- it is like our fbi -- they say there are about 3,000 fighters for russia alone who have gone to the middle east and to syria.

i was just checking some numbers on the kyrgyz, an estimated 500 have gone from kyrgyzstan. you have a large contingent now of these radicalists islamists coming from central asia and in syria. and of course, when i think russia, syria, terrorism, et cetera, you have to think of turkey, which is of course where this took place -- the attack, because russia and turkey have had a very bad relationship because of the shootdown last year of the russian fighter. and now they're trying to mend bridges. so it is a very complicated situation and it has to do obviously with syria ultimately. >> we know the significance when we talk about the beginning of a thaw of erdogan and putin. the conversation started just a couple of days ago. we also know about the deal between israel and turkey here. but that doesn't necessarily

mean that's why -- this clearly as we've talked to experts was months in the making. eighth suicide attack in turkey in the last year. the question keeps being asked why doesn't isis take responsibility. i really don't know if there is a right answer. >> i think it is a tactic of intimidation. >> who are they trying to intimidate? >> the turkish government. turk iish people. tourists. this was a hub of transit not only for the middle east but for the islamic state itself. turkey was used to transit weapons, fighters, food, you name it. uniforms to the islamic state. but turkey's cracked down on the border significantly. it is fighting a shadow war with the islamic state behind the scenes. . its intelligence operatives are going after islamic state operatives. there is a full-blown actual war on the border where turkey's actually backing rebels in syria that are fighting the islamic state. turkey's also backing the

u.s.-led coalition that's launching air strikes at the islamic state in iraq and syria. i think isis is trying to send a message here and they have. >> isn't that fairly recent? the airbase that opened has frustrated isis in the last year. and more of the sealing off of the border. the question to me is what does turkey do about it as far as the war in syria and iraq? >> it is a tough one. turkey's sort of in a corner right now. >> literally. geographically. >> right -- well, and also sort of metaphorically speaking they are. before the arab spring, they sort of called the shots in the region. but everything that turkey sort of banked on, especially in the syrian civil war, has sort of gone awry. syrian president bashar al assad is not going anywhere. isis is basically turned on turkey. they've sort of had the modus operandi. in turkey, they're still at odds, russia's calling the shots

in syria so turkey doesn't really have that many options right now except to strike back hard at these sort of underground networks that are operating within the country itself and hope that nothing like this happens again. >> jill, what do you think? >> well, i think it's going to be very complicated right now. remember, turkey has been accused, rightly or wrongly, of trying to help isis because they think of the kurds as more of a threat than isis. and then you have the united states supporting the kurds to fight assad. so this is a multi-faceted game. but i do think fact that isis is now using people from the former soviet union is bad news both for russia, for turkey and for the region. and you know, president putin just opened up, today in fact, he announced that travel ban on

russians vacationing in turkey is going to be ending so you're going to have more people going to turkey and these are civilians. civilians are soft targets. it's a very dangerous situation. >> jill dougherty, thank you. hugh naler, thank you. coming up, a source telling cnn the bombers likely came from inside syria, the stronghold in raqqa. we'll show you what the life is like there under the brutal regime. u.s. air strikes hit hundreds of isis vehicles. could this be the catalyst to change the strategy against the terror group? moments from now, donald trump holding a town hall. stand by for that. you're watching cnn's special live coverage.

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welcome back. you're watching cnn here. we are live in istanbul where we have heard today from the senior turkish government source telling cnn that officials investigating this deadly blasts here at the istanbul airport now say they have strong evidence to believe the attackers made their way to turkey from raqqa in neighboring syria. you know the story of raqqa. raqqa's the isis stronghold. it's truly become the terror group's de facto capital. a reporter with cnn's swedish affiliate actually made it inside of raqqa a few months ago with hidden cameras to show what life is like for those who are stuck there. >> reporter: raqqa fell in 2014 towards the end of the summer. since then the city has been

governed by medieval methods. the worst affected are the women. they're not allowed out on their own. they must be accompanied by another woman or a male guardian. they are not allowed to work, go to school or go to university. they have been stripped of all rights. an anthem is playing on the radio in a taxi. it praises the highest leader of isis, abu al baghdadi. these two lived in raqqa when isis stormed the city.

since then, they have lived under the oppression of the terrorist group. they have witnessed murder and tortu torture. >> reporter: they have dreamt of fleeing for a long time, but they have to stay to save a pregnant friend from certain death. extramarital relations are

punishable by stoning. >> that is a look inside of raqqa in syria. let's begin there with cnn national security commentator, former michigan congressman mike rogers. congressman is also the host of cnn's new original series, "declassifi "declassified, the untold stories of american spies." congressman, nice to talk to you, sir. let's begin with one of the biggest pieces of news here out of turkey, the fact that from a senior turkish official we are hearing that these three bombers came within the last month from raqqa to strike this airport. what do you make of that significance? >> well, it's fairly significant for two reasons. so they didn't just show up and stay somewhere. that was precoordinated. they clearly had done surveillance, even themselves, of the facility. so they had some help there. so there's probably an extended cell or network that's helping with the logistics to bring people from raqqa, syria into turkey for an operation just

like this. this one happened to be executed at the airport. there could be logistic cells, finance cells, recruiting cells, all of them would appear to be involved and engaged in an operation of this size, if in fact they were there for 30 days. >> congressman, let's bring this home to the u.s. for people who have never been to this istanbul airport, just driving in, you pass by almost like you would see guard towers at a prison. right? there are these watch towers. you pass five in a row. you get here. you have to go through a metal detector and security just to get inside that original glass door to then walk to check in to your plane. so unlike what we experience in america. i mean what do you make of any potential changes in the u.s. at airports there as far as security? is it even possible to secure the periphery of all of our airports? >> you know, brooke, it is really not. the way you stop these folks is you interdict in this thing before it happens. these are intelligence-based

investigations so you want to get -- in this case they went up and they had logistics help in their living conditions. you want good intelligence that you can undo that, you can intercede, you can catch them coming in to the country, you can catch them during that month of operations where they slip up, they use communications, they tell somebody that somebody or using them or housing them slips up or decides they don't want to go through with it. those intelligence-based operations become incredibly important on soft targets. same for the united states. it goes exactly the same. i'll tell you one thing, brooke, the fact that they came out of raqqa and all the command energy for isis comes out of raqqa and all of their propaganda comes out of raqqa, including the propaganda that convinced mateen to slaughter over 50 innocent americans in florida. that's what we're going to have to deal with if we want to deal with what's happening in the united states, we are going to have to deal with raqqa. >> it is just so chilling

watching that video from this local tv affiliate here in istanbul where you see that one of the attackers walking in to the security line and he's asked to show his i.d. without even it appears to blink shoots this officer, to then get inside. i want to move off of the story just briefly since i have you here to istanbul and ask you about the historic news that we caught live last hour from the pentagon with our secretary of defense, ash carter, announcing really to the world that the u.s. military is now open with love to allow transgender troops to fight and to serve. your thoughts on that? >> whatever your position is on the transgender issue, including service in the military, i am flabbergasted that this was their big announcement after we've had an attack in florida, after we just gotten over the san bernardino attack, after the turks have just told us that we had military operators coming out of raqqa. i just find it hard to believe

that this is the most thing for the u.s. military to be engaged with today. i'm shocked. i'm a little disappointed. and again, it has nothing to do the with transgender issue. >> you think they should have pushed it off. >> i would vo pushed it off, absolutely. and i'd be talking about how to deal with people -- where 30 lashes for a woman for riding in a taxi cab. they're executing christians. they're beheading people. it just tells me that they are not serious about solving this problem. i mean my blood pressure goes up. they do a press release about sending special forces over there, then we don't hear again about what we're trying to do to put the right coalition together, to go in to raqqa, to stop this. again, remember, they're going to influence someone else in the united states, somebody right now is going through this radicalization process that is interested in committing acts of violence against americans. we have got to come together on that. this notion that -- i just don't

get it, brooke, to be honest with you, given the severity of what faces the threats to the united states, why this is what they choose to talk about the day after we saw this slaughter -- a couple of days after we saw this slaughter in turkey. >> all right, congressman. we want to get all perspectives. i appreciate your candor there. we did ask -- barbara starr was in the briefing and she definitely asked the secretary of defense about raqqa. but you are correct, that was not the lead. mike rogers, thank you. mike rogers, congressman, host of "declassified," sunday night at 10:00 eastern time right here. we are following breaking news here tonight out of istanbul and beyond. the u.s. state department has just confirmed that a 13-year-old girl has been stabbed to death in the southern west bank and we know that that little girl was an american citizen. israel defense forces say the attacker, a palestinian teenager, walked in to this home, stabbed this girl while

she was asleep! in her bedroom. cnn correspondent orren lieberman joins me now. >> hebron is an area in the southwest bank known for tension between israelis and palestinians especially after so much violence between the two that started back in october. but that has dramatically climbed. i think people were hoping here that perhaps it had fully declined but this morning a reminder it had not. confirmation a short while ago that that 13-year-old girl killed in her sleep was in fact an american citizen, a dual national, an american-israeli. she was asleep in her bed in a southern west bank settlement near the town of hebron when the idf say a 17-year-old palestinian teenager from a nearby village broke into the settlement surrounded by a fence, snuck in to this girl's house, into her room and stabbed her to death. security guards from the settlement responded, ran to the house. there was a fight. one security guard was stabbed

according to the israeli defense forces. and the suspect, this palestinian teenager, was shot and killed. condemnation coming from all over. prime minister netanyahu calling on world leaders to condemn this act. also saying that he would work to revoke the permits of this palestinian's family and has started the procedure to have this palestinian's family's home demolished in the southern west bank. >> as you get more information and as we hear continued condemnation of this fatal stabbing, please let us know, orren lieberman, thank you in jerusalem for us. in turkey, among the people killed at the ataturk istanbul airport, a chief of pediatrics at a tunisian hospital who was reportedly in turkey trying to get his son back from isis. we have his story. also ahead, an 8-year-old girl, her father speaking to cnn today at her funeral. >> she was a very lovely.

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welcome back. you're watching cnn's special live coverage. i'm brooke baldwin live here in istanbul, turkey. new information as far as the terror attack here from two nights ago. the death toll has risen now to 44 and the families of these 44 victims are burying their loved ones. cnn's matt rifs actual rivers a attended the funeral of one of the youngest victims.

he has this gut-wrenching story about this father who obviously had to bury his child far too soon. matt? >> reporter: brooke, as you know, so many families in istanbul are going through such tough times right now. but sometimes you hear stories about loss that are just difficult to imagine. this morning we met a family who arrived in istanbul on tuesday night with eight members of their family. four of them did not leave the airport alive, including an 8-year-old girl. and this morning they buried all four of them. four caskets, inside three sisters, 24, 16, 14, and their 8-year-old niece. her father stood vigil at her coffin preparing to say good-bye at their funeral. >> she was really lovely. >> she was very lovely. >> very lovely. she was very lovely.

>> reporter: the three women and their young niece were all at the airport tuesday, just arrived in turkey to visit family. with them, their father and grandfath grandfather. "i'm heartbroken," he says. "we are so powerless and helpless against these terrorists." he told us they were outside the terminal waiting for a taxi. he didn't see the explosion. only its aftermath. "i was five meters away from my girls," he says, "so i ran over. one was already dead. i took the other three to the hospital. they died, too." two of his other daughters and his wife were injured but survived. his wife left the hospital only to help prepare her daughters and granddaughter for burial according to islamic rituals. scores came to a local mosque for the funeral under a bright thursday sun. funerals like this one have been happening across the city both

yesterday and today. it is the muslim tradition to bury victims as soon as possible. of course there are friends and family here but the majority of people here are just locals, people who worship at this mosque, here to pay their respects after an attack that hurt this whole city, the whole country. a short drive away, some of those same people helped carry the four caskets to a cemetery grave site. they'll be buried together, their own family helping to lower them into the earth. there's so much sadness here. but there's arranger, too, at those who would steal such innocence. "may god damn the terrorists," said the girl's uncle. "it is not one or two or three but four young people. why are they getting killed?" it is on the minds of most in this city as they stand in rows praying for peace and for those they've lost. brooke, if you noticed in the piece there, the father of that

8-year-old girl, his hand was on her casket and he stood like that for the better part of an hour before the funeral began just with his hand on the casket. his need to protect her. even after her passing still so readily apparent. i think it was instinctual. he just stood there, his hand on the casket and he wanted to be close to her. it was incredibly sad and incredibly emotional there this morning. >> i have no words. no words tonight here in istanbul. matt rivers, thank you so much for sharing his story. we'll be back in a moment. it's in the quiet moments when you see why she does this.

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welcome back. i'm brooke baldwin live here at the ataturk airport here in istanbul. there is a mosque next to me. don't know if you can hear the calls to prayers here this evening on a thursday. we have new developments as far as the investigation and where these three bombers lived not too far from where i am standing. but first to politics and the race for president. donald trump is launching divisive rhetoric on another issue that's coming to define his campaign. trade. u.s. trade agreements. we'll take some live pictures where he is scheduled to speak, giving this town hall in manchester, new hampshire, momentarily holding a town hall focused we're told on both trade and the economy. he just vowed in a major speech to bring manufacturing jobs back to the u.s. by imposing tariffs

on countries including china. he also slammed the u.s. chamber of commerce. let's first go to cnn's senior white house correspondent jim acosta who is traveling with the trump campaign. jim's cosk acosta, the chamber commerce is typically lined with conservatives. this continues to widen this gap between trump and republican establishment? >> reporter: that's right, brooke. donald trump is not playing by the typical gop playbook. we know that. case in point is this week the way he's been talking about this issue of trade saying that he's going to rip up trade deals like nafta and the transpacific partnership if he is elect president and going after groups normally gop-friendly like the chamber of commerce. yesterday at a speech in maine he was saying essentially the chamber of commerce which is a very republican friendly group is in the back pocket of special interest groups in washington. this is stuff you do not hear from republican presidential candidates. but the trump campaign feels,

donald trump himself feels, that this is the kind of message that brings hordes and hordes of people out to his rallies. we should mention right now it is a smaller scale setting this afternoon. you've got a relatively small audience tucked in behind the shuttered factory in manchester, new hampshire. he'll talk about a variety of subjects. yesterday in maine we heard donald trump sounding off on all these republicans, past rivals from the primaries who refuse to back his campaign. here's what he said earlier today. >> you know, it was a rough primary. they got beat up. but they went after me, too. we beat them up. now they don't want to endorse. it's almost in some ways like i'm running against two parties. >> no kidding. >> i'm not sure it matters because i think we're going to win. people are so fed up with politics and politicians. but i think i'm going to win

either way. >> reporter: brooke, you just don't normally hear that kind of talk coming from a presumptive republican nominee three weeks out, essentially three weeks to the day from when he is expected to address the republican national convention in cleveland, ohio. another thing we may hear from donald trump in a few moments when this town hall gets started because he's fired up about it is this case of bill clinton talking with attorney general loretta lynch. clinton campaign and others, the white house. they're all saying this has nothing to do with the fbi investigation into clinton's use -- secretary of state hillary clinton's use of a private e-mail server. donald trump was saying in that interview a few moments ago he feels like this is the biggest story of the year. we expect him to talk about that more as well, brooke. >> we will look for him. my eyes are on that live picture in new hampshire. for now, jim acosta, thank you.

on trade specifically, we know trump's talking trade and economics and the fact that he's being slammed sort of on both sides, both republicans and the president of the united states on trade. >> it really is a remarkable thing to watch what is normally a debate that we see on the democratic side between sort of left wing democrats and more centrist democrats. they usually have done the political battle over trade of late. this is an entirely different makeup. listen, donald trump understands that the core of his support, the real fuel to the fire that he lit across the country during the nomination season, came from these white working class voters who feel economically left out of this globalized economy that we're now in. he's been able to get their support and he wants to continue to do so because he realizes it is his path to the presidency. his path to 270 electoral votes

goes through places like ohio, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. if he can convert those states over to republican states -- they've been democrat for the last couple cycles -- that's how he builds a winning presidential campaign. >> all right. item number one there. item number two, chris christie. what's up there today? >> chris christie. we've now learned is being vetted according to our jan jam gangel is being vetted for donald trump's vice president. i don't think that's too surprising. you all know he endorsed trump early on, shortly after he got out of the race. he's been defending him ever since. he's running the transition for trump should trump win. now he's handing over documents and is getting a serious look as a potential vp contender. he has some high negatives he

has to still with. still some ongoing bridgegate issues out there to be resolved but i'm not sure that will scare donald trump away from considering chris christie. the two have clearly had a long history and they have a personal relationship going back several years that christie's talked about quite often. the one thing that christie doesn't have that donald trump says he's looking for, brooke, is real washington experience on capitol hill, getting legislation passed. donald trump said he was looking for an old washington hand who knows how to make all that work. obviously christie's been a governor, been a u.s. attorney. but he is missing that component donald trump has told us many times he is interested in. >> maybe not a total surprise. but then you have what jim alluded to in the end there, this plane ride and this chat between -- you look at the optics. this former president of the united states, bill clinton, having a chat with the current ag, loretta lynch, as his wife is running for president and is

being federally investigated. what do you make of that? >> you know, terrible optics. really bad choice on both bill clinton and loretta lynch's part. you've heard the attorney general address this and she said that they talked about grandchildren and there was nothing untoward and they never discussed ongoing cases. but this is the woman in charge of the justice department that's looking in to bill clinton's spouse who happens to be the presumptive democratic nominee. so the idea that bill clinton learns she's on the tarmac, let me go say hello. i'm sure in his mind initially he thought there would be no problem. but it would only take half a second to think through the optics of that, that perhaps this isn't the time bill clinton should be having a private meeting with loretta lynch. clinton's critics have seized on this. it's really lit up conservative talk radio. even some democrats have said this is a distraction, this is something that could have easily been avoided and wasn't

necessary. >> all right, david, thank you very much. we're keeping a close eye on that trump event. we'll take a piece of it live momentarily. back here at istanbul, we have new breaking information from our own reporter who went out to the neighborhood what she is learning from those who live nearby. what they saw, what they smelled, joining me live with those details, next. you both have a

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let's get back to the last few minutes i have with you here in istanbul. nima is just back from the apartment where the three suicide bombers were living, about a half hour away, what did you see? >> as you imagine, people were

cloutly shocked. they did not speak to their neighbors. the curtains were never open. a garage owner whose garage was right behind the flats was watching them and he says they would open the windows like they were airing the flat out. people keep describing a chemical smell. they thought maybe it was a gas leak and it was permeating the whole building. they tried to reach out to other officials and it seemed to go unchecked. thank you, cnn special live coverage continues right after

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isis terrorism shipped straight from syria. "the lead" starts right now. the suicide bombers that unleashed held on istanbul were foreign fighters on a terrorist mission from isis leaders exported directly from isis headquarters. mitt romney suggests that republicans that vote for donald trump are helping america commit economic suicide. and when hillary clinton is trying to bush back on the notion that she is untrust worthy, her husband has a